More than 20 million people watched The International online, Valve says

The 2014 International Dota 2 Championships attracted record-setting online viewership numbers, including more than twice as many peak concurrent viewers as the 2013 event.

In case there was any doubt that e-sports is a very big deal these days, consider them put to rest: Valve has announced that this year's International drew in "well over" two million peak concurrent online viewers, more than doubling that of last year's tournament. Overall, more than 20 million unique viewers tuned in to the event.

If you weren't among them and want to find out what you missed, you can catch up on what you missed with our in-depth look back on the Grand Finals right here .

TOPICS

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.